Seth Clearwater
by urbanfantasyfan
Summary: Seth Clearwater meets, imprints and marries his mate. Takes place approx. 9 years after Breaking Dawn.


**Seth Clearwater**

Most of the Wolves had stopped changing and returned to their human lives. Only a handful remained.

Sam had decided to stay until his sons were old enough to shift, should the need ever arise. Quil was waiting for Claire to grow up so that they could grow old together. Jake, well he was married to Nessie and since she was immortal, Jake had chosen immortality too. There were a few others, those without mates, who liked the freedom to howl and felt that it was their duty to protect the tribe.

And then there was Leah. She had stopped changing when she felt that Jake and I were safe and happy. She'd always hated being a wolf. She wanted a human life and now she had one. She was happily engaged to a gentle giant of a man from the Ahtena tribe in Alaska.

Me, I liked being wolf. I liked the speed and the ability to live as I wanted, when I wanted.

Currently I was scouting out the area around the old Cullen place. They had asked me to keep an eye on it after they had moved north to Mount Vernon a couple of years ago. North of Seattle, was far enough away that they could begin new lives and close enough that they could see Charlie and Jake could stay in touch with Billy and the Pack. Jake had graduated college with a degree in aeronautical aviation. He had a commercial pilots license and with the help of the Cullen's he'd bought a small jet and started a charter service that ferried business men and celebrities up and down the west coast.

I was going to Evergreen State College in Olympia and finishing up a double Master's in Conservation and Native American Studies. I was planning on sticking close to home, helping my people and staying wolf until something came along to make me change my mind.

It happened when I was walking to my job as a barista at a coffee shop two blocks from my apartment in Olympia.

Un-usually, the sun was shining and the air smelled of damp earth, green grass and anticipation. I'd walked this street for five years while I went to school and anticipation was not my usual experience with it. It's true, I was looking forward to graduation, to moving back home but it didn't feel like that was what was causing it. I was going to be early so I decided to follow my gut and let the feeling lead me where it may.

Intuition told me to turn right at the next corner. I kept walking until I felt the need to cross the street and turn down a short pedestrian alley lined with small eclectic shops. I passed an antique store and a vintage bookshop and stopped in front of what looked like an upscale bath boutique. Colorful jars lined the front window. I'd never felt the need to visit a store like this in my life but somehow I found my hand turning the doorknob. The door swung open and a small bell alerted the clerk to my presence. Fragrance came at me from every direction, lavender, vanilla, rose and melon. Shelves were lined with bath salts, soap, lotion and oil. The glass counter next to the register held handmade jewelry, colored stones, crystals and something else. I couldn't really put my finger on it but something shimmered in the air.

I closed my eyes and let my senses work on what it was that I was feeling and then I waited. A moment later I heard almost silent footsteps enter from the backroom.

Somehow I could feel it, magic….that's what is was. I opened my eyes and the world tilted under my feet.

My life changed when I looked into her eyes. She was tiny and fair skinned. Short, pixyish, silver-blond hair framed her face. She looked at me with pale gray eyes and whispered my name and my skin felt charged like I was standing to close to an oncoming thunderstorm. It was as if my old life had disappeared and today was all that I had left to hold onto. The fabric of my life had been torn away.

I panicked. This couldn't be real. This wasn't how it was supposed to be for me. I had a life, I had a purpose and this wasn't part of my plan. Every instinct demanded that I step forward and take her hand, but instead I turned away from her and stumbled back out the door.

I needed to think and to do that I needed to get away, to run. My hands were already trembling when I picked up my cell phone and called my boss to tell him that I was sick. It wasn't a lie, I was sick and I needed to get as far away from here as possible.

The tribal elders had explained imprinting to us when we became wolves, but they said that it was rare. There had been no one since Jacob who had experienced it.

Why me? Why now? Was it because I was Taha Ake's great-great-grandson? I started to run, headed to the closest part of old growth forest near to me. When I reached it I stopped, stripped out of my clothes and let the change take me and then I really ran. My heart pounded, my muscles stretched and power and freedom hummed through my veins. I let the wolf take the lead.

I ran west, toward the ocean, toward the familiar and away from the new and unknown. Jacob heard me first.

"Seth, slow down, what's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing", I replied," I just need to think. I need to clear my head. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

I knew that he could see what had happened in my mind, feel my panic and refusal to accept. "When you're ready to talk I'll be here" he responded and then he faded away.

I ran until I reached the sea, then stood on the cliffs and let the rain wash over me. I continued to stand and watch as the sunset and a full moon rose over the water. There were all of the familiar nighttime noises of the forest around me, birds rustling in the trees as they settled in for the night, raccoon and fox shuffling across the forest floor, a wolf, a real wolf, howling at the moon. It made me lonely and I wondered if I should head north toward home.

Then in the branches over my head an owl called. I looked up and saw a snowy owl, silver-white in the moonlight. It stared down at me and blinked and it's eyes were pale gray.

I held my breath and watched as it glided silently toward me and landed at my feet. I turned away, looking back at the sea and resigned myself to my fate. When I faced her a moment later she was standing in front of me dressed in a white doeskin cloak.

"Who are you?" I thought and she answered my thought with words.

"My name is Caille and I've been searching for you for a long time."

"I've never met you. Why would you search for me?"

"I'm afraid that you won't believe me, but you are my mate, my one true love. I had to find you, to try to explain."

I knew that it was true. I'd felt it myself. All that I was or was destined to be, began and ended with her. My doubts fell away. I'd been cut adrift and she felt like home.

I wanted to shift and talk to her but I wasn't sure what her reaction would be to a six foot, six inch naked man. She smiled a little, reading my thoughts and a pair of rawhide breeches appeared at my feet. She turned her back to me and walked to the edge of the cliff while I dressed.

"You aren't human" I said, after I'd shifted.

She turned and smiled at me. "Partly" she said, "like you. My Father was human but I take after the women in my family and they are of the Fae."

"The Fae, you mean like Tinkerbell?"

"Well, not quite" she laughed gently, "but you have the general idea."

"Why me?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's hard to explain" she sighed. "It's rare for us to be compelled to find our mate like this. I began dreaming of a wolf as a child. As time passed, the dreams became more vivid and the wolf became a man with a name. My Grandmother told me that I was dreaming of my match, the other half of my soul."

"How did you find me?"

"In my dreams I would see ancient forests, ocean vistas, and a beach with huge standing stones. Then there were the vampires with golden eyes. I began to ask about them among the Fae. Finally, I found someone who had heard of them, a coven, who did not feed on humans, who lived somewhere in the northwest. When I put it all together, I scoured the west coast until I came to the Quileute Reservation and Forks and knew that I was in the right place. I moved around the village, looking and listening for you, but you weren't there."

"How could you wander around my village? Believe me, someone like you would have been noticed and I would have heard about it."

"Unlike giant wolves, most people don't pay much attention to owls," she responded, "and snowy owls are unusual, but not unheard of in this area. I knew your name from my dreams and I soon I over-heard a woman, perhaps your mother, mention that you were in school in Olympia. From there it was easy to put myself in your path."

She stood in the moonlight and her eyes searched my face. "What are you thinking? I can't read your thoughts when you are human."

"I just didn't think that it would ever happen to me. Imprinting is supposed to be rare and yet, one look at you and I can't imagine living the rest of my life without you."

"I don't understand what you mean?"she replied. "I sought you out because you are my destiny. That is the way of the Fae. I could only hope that you would be willing to listen to me. You may choose to stay with me or to leave me. I would never try to persuade you."

"That's just it, I don't have a choice. Sometimes a wolf will meet his soul mate and he instantly recognizes her. An unbreakable bond is sealed and even the death of his mate will not sever that bond. That's the way it was for me when I first saw you. I can never willingly leave you."

She stepped toward me and her hands reached for mine. "But I never meant to take your will from you. You are free of any obligation to me. I only knew that I had to find you, to see if you were real, if what I feel is real."

Instinct compelled me to reach for her, to feel her skin next to mine. I drew her into my arms and brought my hand up to cradle her face. "I belong to you and you to me. This I know as surely as I know the sun will rise." Then I lowered my head, kissing her hair, her forehead, her nose and finally, lingering on her lips.

Her arms came up around my neck, her hands moving through my hair and pulling my mouth deeper into the kiss. She smelled of woods and moonlight, of home and forever. She drew slightly away and rested her face against my chest as I held her securely against me. After a few moments, she reached for my hand.

"Come with me" she said and I followed her to the edge of the forest. She released her cloak and it slipped to the ground and spread out over a bed of ferns and white Phantom Orchids. She lowered herself until she was kneeling on her cloak, her skin translucent among the shadows and held up her arms in welcome.

We lay together all that night, skin to skin, heart to heart and watched the constellations pass by overhead. We talked of our pasts and of our future together until the first rays of the rising Sun turned the sky from violet to coral and the larks began to sing their greeting to the new morning. We made love as the forest came awake around us.

"What do we do now?" she asked me.

"Well, I think that it would be best to go back to Olympia today and make preparations to move to my home in La Push. I graduate in two weeks, my classes and papers are complete so I'm free to leave. All that I need to do is pack up my apartment and quit my job. What about you?" I asked as I brushed her hair back away from her eyes.

She smiled up at me from where she was resting on my chest. "I don't really have anything holding me there. The shop where I was working belongs to my aunt and she knows that I was there waiting for you to find me, so she won't mind if I leave. Do you mind if I ask you something?"she whispered. She looked away from me, there was hesitancy in her voice and the hand that had been stroking me stilled.

"Of course I don't mind. What is it?" I replied.

"Well, I know that this has been kind of a shock for you, I mean, I've been looking for you for a long time, so I've had a long time to think about it."

I could feel her heart tripping in her chest, so I pulled her up on top of me so that I could look into her face. She was blushing. "What is it?" I asked, tipping her face up so that she would have to look into my eyes. "You can talk to me about anything."

"Well," she sighed, "the Fae have a ceremony that is performed when we find our mates…"

"You mean like a wedding?" I asked.

"Yes, but it's a bit more than a religious service, it's more of a physical binding."

I laughed gently. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

Her cheeks turned pinker still and she looked away from me. "I guess that I am." she whispered.

I sat up and pulled her into my lap, then tilted her face so that I could see into her eyes. I wanted to ease her embarrassment.

"Caille, will you marry me?" I asked.

She smiled. "Of course, I've been waiting for you forever." She laughed happily and I could feel joy and magic spilling from her.

We decided to shift forms to return to Olympia. When we got there we packed everything up and said our goodbyes. Two days later we were headed to La Push in my old Jeep.

I had planned to return to the rez after graduation. I already had a job with the Federal Government as a Wildlife Manager in the Olympic Wilderness, which is part of Olympic National Park. It was a short commute to my new office from La Push and I'd been working on weekends to remodel an old cabin there that had belonged to my Grandfather. The cabin sat about a quarter of a mile off the main road in a clearing next to a stream in the woods.

My Mom had married Charlie Swan a couple of years ago and she was living with him at his house in Forks. Leah and her fiancée had moved in to Mom's old house in La Push. I'd called them before we left Olympia and told them about Caille. We promised to see them both as soon as we were settled in.

I was happy with the way the old cabin had turned out, but I wasn't sure how Caille would feel about it. I slowed the car as we approached the cabin until it came to a complete stop.

I glanced over in her direction and she was looking at me, a question in her eyes. "What is it?" she asked.

I reached over and took her hand. "It's just that I don't know if you'll like the cabin. It's old and well…rustic. I've remodeled the kitchen and bath, but if you don't like it we can find someplace else. I don't want you to feel that we have to stay here. I want you to be happy."

She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. "I'm sure that I'll love it. I already like the idea that it's off the road and in the woods. Like you, I prefer the privacy and solitude of the old forests. Come on, lets take a look."

I started the car forward again and the old cabin came into view.

It was made out of cedar logs, graying and weathered by time. A large stone chimney stood sentinel next to the front door and a battered, screened-in porch finished off one end. Moss coated wooden shingles covered the roof and a flagstone path led to the front door.

I turned off the car and Caille opened her door and stepped out. "Oh Seth, it is beautiful" she whispered. "All that it needs is a little something here and there to make it home. Leave it to me. I have a way with beautiful things."

"Better wait till you see the inside before you pass judgment" I replied.

We walked up to the front door and before she could object, I reached down and swung her up into my arms. "Welcome home" I said and bent to kiss her lips.

Several minutes later we came up for air and I reached forward to open the door.

"You don't have a key?" she questioned.

" Don't need one. No one on the reservation would ever enter anyone's home without permission, especially not a member of the pack."

The door swung open and revealed the main living area. The walls and floor were unstained cedar. They gleamed brightly in the sunlight coming in from the porch. I'd sanded the floor and re-varnished it and the walls, so that the whole place smelled of cedar and varnish. The kitchen was part of the main living area. I enjoyed cooking so I'd gone all out with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

Other than that, the room was empty except for a huge antique farm table and eight chairs that I'd bought at an auction. I was surprised to see a blue and white pitcher filled with wildflowers in the middle of the table. I walked over to investigate and found a note lying next to it.

Welcome , it said in Quileute and English. It was signed, .Love, Mom and Leah.

I felt, rather than heard Caille walk up behind me.

"How about a tour?" she asked.

"Well, what you see is pretty much what you get. The bedroom is through that door in the corner and the bathroom is the next door over. There's also a door in the bedroom that goes through to the bath. Come on, I'll show you."

I reached for her hand and drew her across the room to the bedroom door, then pulled her in front of me and said "You first" and pushed the door open.

The room wasn't big, but it was filled with light coming in through a bay window that I'd added during the remodel. This room, like the rest of the house had cedar walls, floors and ceilings, but I'd stained them red before I'd varnished them. There was room for a queen sized bed and a few other smaller pieces of furniture.

Caille walked to the window and looked out into the forest. She turned to me. "I love it, Seth" she said. "Show me more."

"The bathroom is through that door" I pointed and she walked over to look inside.

The bathroom was actually quite large, but I'm a big guy and I wanted room to move. It was very contemporary, with a large glass-tiled walk-in shower, a separate alcove for the toilet and a pedestal sink.

"Huh," she said, turning to face me. "I see only one problem… there's no bed."

"Yeah, well, that is a problem. I just never got around to it."

"I think that maybe I can help with that…if you'd like?"

"I can't think of anything that I'd like better, but it's a little late to go furniture shopping."

"Oh, I don't need to go shopping. I don't even need to leave this room" she replied.

"Ok," I laughed. "I'm game."

She shifted her eyes away from me to the center of the room and the air shimmered before a large, comfortable bed appeared out of thin air. It wasn't that I'd never seen her do it before, but it still surprised me.

"Problem solved", she sounded pleased. "We can work on the rest tomorrow". We didn't leave the room again until the next morning.

As dawn began to lighten the sky, I slipped out of bed. I needed to run and to communicate with the pack. I bent down and kissed Caille on the forehead.

"I'll be back soon. I'm going for a run," I whispered to her.

"Mmm" she sighed and snuggled deeper into the pillow.

I stepped out the front door into the predawn light and stopped short.

The clearing all around the cabin was blanketed in drifts of wildflowers. There were tiny Baby Blue Eyes, pink and white Sweet William, red California Poppies and spears of yellow Golden Lupin. Overnight the clearing had been turned into a fairy garden. Now I knew what Caille meant when she said that she had a way with beautiful things.

I shook my head in amazement and shifted to my wolf form as I stepped down off the porch. I headed into the trees, running nice and easy at first and then faster as my muscles warmed and stretched. I made a wide circuit around La Push. On the wind, I smelled the other wolves, Sam and Jared, Embry and Quil and then I headed east into the mountains.

When I was about fifteen miles from La Push I came upon a clear-cutting in the trees. I stopped and listened. I could smell bear and Elk and in the distance, Mountain Lion and something strange.

Then I heard something large moving through the trees, branches breaking and undergrowth being crushed under foot. It was coming nearer.

As I watched, a monstrous Stag pushed its way into the clearing. I'd never seen anything like it. It was seven feet at the shoulder with moose-like antlers about ten feet across. It looked like pictures that I'd seen of Irish Elk, but it couldn't be that. They'd been hunted to extinction seven-thousand years ago. This horror was very much alive.

The pack must have felt my reaction because Jacob spoke to me.

"What's wrong Seth? Do you need backup?"

"It's something that I've never seen before. I don't know what it is," I replied, "but it's huge."

"We're on our way" Quil jumped in.

Jacob spoke again. "I'm going to let Sam know Seth. I expect that he'll want to come and take a look and I'll be standing by."

Then another voice spoke in my head. This one was deep and unfamiliar.

"Seth," it said. "I've been looking for you." It was coming from the Stag.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Carria and I've come to reclaim Caille from you."

"Reclaim? I don't understand, explain."

"She is mine" he rumbled. "I claimed her at her birth one-hundred years ago. She escaped me and I've come to take her back."

"That is not true" I heard Caille reply. "I do not belong to you. Carria. I have chosen Seth. You know that you must accept this and return to the Far Lands.

"And if he is dead, then what?" Carria threatened. "Then I will take you back with me."

"Seth, be very careful." Caille said. "He is old and not in his right mind. He can use his strength as the Stag to fight you, but he is forbidden to use his magic."

Just then Quil and Embry crashed into the clearing. "We got you covered Seth" they said in unison.

I spoke then directly to Carria. "Caille is my mate. She has told you that she doesn't want you and doesn't belong to you. You can leave now and this will be forgotten, but if you choose to stay and fight, I will do what I must. I will destroy you to keep her safe."

I looked up then to see Caille land in a tree to the right of me.

"You don't have to fight him Seth" she said. "I would rather go with him and plead my case before the Fae then to put you in danger. If anything happened to you I would fade away and die rather than live without you."

The wolves growled.

"I take care of what is mine. You're staying here with me. He'll never touch you" I snarled.

Sam and Jared appeared and slipped in behind me.

"Ah, little wolf" Carria taunted, "I don't need magic to finish you."

Faster than I would have believed possible, he charged at me, head lowered, dirt flying from razor-sharp hooves.

I waited until he was on top of me then stepped to the side, turned and launched myself onto his back. I sank my teeth into his neck, aiming to crush his spine.

He reared up and shook his head, his antlers humming through the air. I lost my grip and flipped onto the ground, landing on my feet, ready to charge again. He turned, rounding on me, catching me on his antlers and throwing me across the clearing.

I landed hard, a couple of ribs broken. I staggered to my feet determined to end this now. He thundered toward me in a death charge. My death.

I raced forward dodging under his antlers, grabbing his front leg, and breaking it, forcing him to crash to the ground. I turned to finish him.

An invisible wall of power slammed into me and a female voice sounded loud in my head.

"Enough" she ordered.

I looked around and saw her standing under Caille's tree. A horse, elegant and proud, golden in the sun. The air shimmered around her and a woman appeared. Waves of blond hair fell past her shoulders and she stared at me with familiar pale-gray eyes.

Caille flew down from her perch and landed beside her. She shimmered and shifted to her human form.

Mother" she smiled and bent forward to kiss her cheek.

In front of me Carria roared to his feet, his leg hanging limply in front of him and shifted into a tall thin man.

"Capall" he bellowed at the woman. "Do not interfere. It is my right."

"No Carria, it is not. My daughter has refused you, the matter is settled. If you persist you will have to deal with me and we shall see who's magic is stronger."

With another roar Carria disappeared, grasping his broken arm to his chest.

I limped over to stand in front of Caille. She reached up to caress my muzzle.

"Mother, this is my mate, Seth."

"Thank you Seth for protecting my daughter. She's been looking for you a long time. I'm pleased that she has finally found you."

The other wolves approached behind me and I turned to face them.

"Are you going to be alright Seth?" Sam asked.

"Yes, thank you, Sam" I nodded my head to the others, "My brothers, thank you for having my back. A couple of hours and I'll be good as new. Caille and I will come into La Push tomorrow to talk to the elders." Then I reached out and found Jacob waiting.

"Jake…" I started to speak.

"I know Seth, I saw. Congratulations. Let Nessie and I know when we can expect a wedding" and he was gone.

The wolves were gone too when I turned back to Caille. A pile of clothes appeared at my feet and Caille and Capall walked away as I shifted and dressed. When I was finished I walked over to them and said "lets go home."

"Mother will meet us there" she said. Her mother smiled down at her and disappeared.

"Can you do that?" I asked.

"No, not yet" she replied. "I'm not old enough."

"Speaking of which… were you ever planning on telling me that you are one-hundred years old?"

"One-hundred and two, to be exact" she responded. "Is it important?"

"Well," I laughed. "When a man marries a much older woman I think that he should know it."

"Perhaps you're right, but among the Fae you aren't even considered an adult until you're seventy-five."

We continued to walk hand in hand back toward La Push. She looked up at me. "Are we going to walk all the way back?" she asked innocently.

"It's not that far," I replied, "Only about fifteen miles. Would you rather I carried you?"

"Would you?" she asked and yawned daintily behind her hand. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I remember, I was there and I'm thinking that you won't get much tonight either" I laughed.

Then I picked her up and ran back to the cabin with her asleep in my arms.

We were married a week later on the cliffs overlooking First Beach. Most of La Push was there including both packs. Even Charlie was there with my Mom at his side, looking as bewildered as ever.

The treaty had been amended for the occasion so that all of the Cullens could attend. Jake was my best man and Caille's Mother gave her away.

The moon was rising when we returned to the Cullen house for the reception. Alice wouldn't hear of us having it anywhere else. Caille stayed close by my side and two hours later we said our goodbyes and stole away into the night.

We both shifted when we reached the edge of the forest, a giant wolf and a silvery owl. An unusual sight to anyone who may have seen us, racing through the woods, side by side in the moonlight, headed for home.


End file.
